Category: religion

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This Artist Uses Tech to Show What Historical Figures Really Looked Like

Sometimes it can be hard to imagine what people from the past looked like before cameras were invented.

Yes, we have paintings and sculptures we can admire, but it sure would be nice to know what ancient leaders and famous artists of centuries past REALLY looked like.

Well, thanks to a photographer and artist named Bas Uterwijk who specializes in computer graphics and 3D animation, we have an idea of what some famous figures from history might have looked like.

Uterwijk started tampering with the likenesses of historical figures in 2019 and his work is really something. Here are some faces that the Dutch artist made come to life.

Let’s take a look.

1. Is that Bill Shakespeare?

Why yes, it is!

2. Albrecht Durer.

A German painter, FYI.

3. Portrait of a lady.

This one is pretty interesting.

4. That’s Lady Liberty.

If she was a real person…

5. Alexander the Great.

A giant historical figure.

6. Emperor Caligula. 

A lot of crazy stories about this fella.

7. They lived in Pompeii in AD 79.

What they must have seen…

8. Playwright. Politician. Philosopher.

Taken from a sculpture. I like this one.

9. Marcus Aurelius.

An emperor and a philosopher.

10. Julius Caesar.

We all know what happened to him…

11. The one and only Vincent van Gogh.

A master Dutch painter.

Those are awesome! I love all the detail. His creations seem to jump right off the screen.

Who else would you like to see given this treatment?

Share some fascinating historical figures with us in the comments. Thanks!

The post This Artist Uses Tech to Show What Historical Figures Really Looked Like appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Who Grew up With Very Religious Parents Talk About Their Experiences

Religious extremism has always kind of scared me.

I’m all for people having their beliefs and worshipping the way they want to, but when those beliefs become extreme and it starts to affect the folks around you, that’s when there’s a problem.

And it seems like more people than you probably think actually grew up this way.

Let’s take a look at some interesting stories from folks on AskReddit.

1. Out the door.

“Let the beatings commence.

Spanked, paddled, whipped, and beaten for minor offenses.

That’s why I joined the military to get away from that nonsense.”

2. In retrospect…

“Terrifying in retrospect, but I didn’t realize it at the time.

You just start to think that all the bullsh*t that’s going on around you is normal, and then when you start meeting people in the real world outside of the religious bubble you slowly start realizing how f*cked up everything was.”

3. Cult-like.

“Grew up in a non-denominational Christian Church. The resemblance it had to a cult didn’t really dawn on me til I was older, probably 14-16.

My parents were the stereotypical helicopter parents- watched our every move, put screen mirroring apps on the very first cell phone we were ever given at age 16, shaming the hell out of us for what they would find on our phones talking to our secret girlfriends, etc.

Our church was full of families with 7+ children, the largest family having 12 kids and single mom (the dad was in jail for molesting some of the eldest girls). Out of a population of about 5-600, me and my sister were the only kids enrolled in public school, because mom was a school teacher. As a teenager, life was absolutely miserable.

Around the age of 14 I decided I hated Christianity and the absolute perversion and abuse of power this church was capable of inflicting upon me. One suicide attempt and psych ward trip later, around the age of 16, I decided I was done with the church punishing me, I decided if I couldn’t escape my parents house physically, then I would escape it mentally.

This led me to start using drugs of any sort. I started drinking cough medicine and smoking weed. Fast forward a few months, I started chemistry and synthesized multiple plant-derived psychedelics in my room. This led me to overdose and panic and have a second psych ward trip. After the church hears of this, they expelled me from the congregation. (They also expelled multiple people for being gay and all sorts of other lovely things)

Long term, I’m now almost 21 and I’m not gonna lie I have a substance problem. I think there’s some very deep emotional scarring I’ll never be able to completely deal with. I’m trying to stop my substance abuse issue and turn my life around for the better, but after being so bright in high school I feel like a retard now from all of the oxys.

My goal now is to go to trade school and get certified in welding, hopefully make a pretty ok life for myself. I wanted to go to college, but I have a few drug charges on my record, so I’ve pretty much abandoned hope of an easy future. I know I’ve f*cked up my life a lot, I’ll be honest it’s hard.

I think about suicide often, but I want to give life one last clean try for I abandon all hope. If it doesn’t work out and I wind up homeless, I do plan to kill myself. I’d rather be dead than homeless.”

4. Growing up Mormon.

“Grew up hardcore Mormon. I’d like to stress that my childhood isnt as common for other Mormon kids.

Most of the time Mormons are fairly understanding and loving to their kids. BUT, the mormon culture does promote the mentality my parents had.

When I was growing up I wasnt punished like some others here. I was spanked, and experienced the belt but that isnt why I have some psychological problems now. The real punishment was shame. From the earliest age I can remember (around six) I was told that I was lazy and I was pissing my life away (This was the strongest language my father would use).

When I first heard the word s*x, around eleven, I looked it up on the family computer. I was a pervert from then on, and had to talk to the bishop every month for a checkup. Hell, in every school I went to my parents told school counselors that I wasnt allowed on computers because I might look up pictures of naked women. (I never did this)

This is just the sparknotes version but I internalized the shame. Being so young I just accepted that I was what my father called me and hated myself for it. I was a lazy faliure at six, I was a pervert at eleven. It didnt stop me from doing any of the things I was doing before, I just learned to fear my fathers footsteps as if it was the devil himself walking down the hallway.

I lived my life in the brief intervals between punishments. I am still not beyond this at 24 years old.”

5. A bad situation.

“Oh, where to start?

Spankings that were borderline beatings for every offense. I wasn’t allowed to “talk back” at all. Asking “why?” Was talking back. I spent my entire childhood believing that all my problems were because I didn’t love god enough.

When I was 9, I was convinced that if I didn’t shape up, God was going to kill me. So I spent six months being a perfect angel but also living in constant terror. Just completely convinced that if I did one thing wrong, lightning would blow me off the planet.

Last thing I’ll mention is how my parents wouldn’t feed me as a child if I talked back. Many many nights I was sent home with no food for the most minor of infractions. (Finishing a chore a minute or two late)

They have largely turned things around. And even apologized for some of these actions. But I still have no interest in talking to them.”

6. Strict.

“Very religious parents, we have to abstain from eating onions, meat and garlic for nine days twice a year.

My parents always think that their religion is the best they sometimes criticize other religions.

The think homos*xuality is a sin.

My mother wants me to stop eating non-vegetarian food after I get married

I’m only allowed to eat Non- veg on Sunday, Friday and Saturday

My mother frowns when I tell her that I dont believe in god.

Yes, I’m Hindu.”

7. Still working on it.

“Was forced to attend a Christian cult for years. I told my parents every single time that I’m an atheist. Didn’t matter, had to go.

Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t study, they burned my books, couldn’t go out, so I was literally confined in my room with absolutely nothing. I had a bed and a wardrobe and clothes. No music, no drawing, no reading, no PC because only my little brother could use the computer.

I was studying programming in high school ffs. Had to hand-in my homework written on a paper instead of programmed in various languages.

Shamed me for being a woman. Shamed my body. Made me think I’m stupid. The “Pastor” kept saying how he sees god’s light on my face and how I’m clearly a devout Christian. I was thinking how to…uhm… evil stuff evil stuff… anyway not so nice thoughts about him during these conversations so yeah I don’t think he saw what was really in my mind.

Almost snapped. That would have ended in a sad, messy way. Thankfully I was banned, most likely because in the end I let my true thoughts show on my face. Claimed it was because they saw me walking with a boy or some other bullsh*t. I think they realised I’m not a sheep like the rest but a bloody angry wolf. Don’t try to indoctrinate the psychopath.

I left my family, moved a few thousand kilometers away, I have a great job, a great husband (he knows all my past), travelling constantly with my BOOKS. Yeah I love my books. Noone will ever take them again. I’m planning on building my own tiny library with a mahogany desk and heavy drapery on the windows.

Also I learnt I’m not stupid (quite the opposite) and I’m not that ashamed if my body anymore. My brain still have some trauma to work through. But I might even be a completely normal human in time!”

8. Homeschooled.

“I wasn’t in a true cult but I was homeschooled for religious reasons.

Mom replaced the word “millions” with “thousands” in our history/science books. Words like “liberal” and “democrat” and “secular” and “muslim” were insults, deserving mockery and shame. Went to church 3-4 times a week, mission trips every year.

Didn’t do Halloween (but always had “fall festivals”) or Easter Bunny or Santa. We weren’t allowed to say “holy cow” or “holy smokes” because only God is holy. Couldn’t watch Disney movies because of the “follow your heart” messaging, since the human heart is evil, it’s God’s heart we should follow (and also cuz Eisner supported equal rights).

No Pokemon because of “evolution” and a Satanic Panic fear that they were based on Japanese demons.

I’m 30 now and ashamed of the person I was, but I try not to be too hard on myself… It wasn’t all my fault. I was a Bible thumping Republican until late in college, and even though I’m an entirely different person, I still encounter chunks of bullsh*t in my psyche that I try to pluck out.

Therapy and reading and introspection and travel and empathy will do a lot! But we’re all on a journey…”

9. Demonic!

“All non-Christian gospel music was considered demonic. All fantasy was demonic.

I couldn’t watch how to train your dragon because it might as well be how to train your demon. Any time I acted up, it was because of the demons either influencing me or in me.

Church every day gets a little old after a while too.”

10. Irritating.

“My mom is a devout mormon. I was forced to pretend to believe in their church for 18 years.

I moved out a few months ago, she knows I don’t attend but she doesn’t know how far away I have distanced myself from that church.

She still calls me every week saying she’s trying to find out who my bishop is so they can send people to bring me to church with them. It’s like leading a double life but she’s micromanaging my religious beliefs from 4 hours away.

I love my mom but Jesus Christ does the Mormon lifestyle irritate me.”

11. Satanic Panic.

“It was Hell, and now I’m an athiest. We were raised in the Satanic Panic era in a Full Gospel Pentacostal church where people spoke in tongues, slithered on the floor like a snake, and fainted ( I guess thats what you call it).

We were only allowed stay overnight with friends whos family were from the same church. Only permitted to watch Rated G and PG movies. Not allowed to watch The Smurfs because they were satanic. We and other members of the church would stand on the side of the road in town and preach over a sound system to the teenagers cruising on Friday and Saturday nights.

We were forced to go to church every Wednesday night and morning and evening service on Sunday. Our stepdad was a deacon and later was “called to preach”. He beat the hell out of us on a regular basis and molested my sister. Beatings were so bad we were told no to dress out at PE in school because he didnt want anyone to see the bruises.

We were basically his slaves. We were forced to work our entire childhood. If we were caught with Rock and Roll music, it was burned. He later left my mom for another deacon’s wife which is why im not in prison because I had future plans to kill him once i got older.

There were four of us kids, one has since commited suicide, one is a crack head, my sister and her husband are very wealthy and i am a police officer. Hitler is still alive but he is paying for all of the abuse he put us through.”

12. Looks good from the outside.

“Having religious extremist parents is having a family that looks good from the outside, but is completely broken on the inside.

Having religious extremist parents is having your mother “obey” your father because that’s the only advice their pastor gave for marriage counseling. Having religious extremist parents is being told from an early age that all you’re going to do as a woman is graduate high school, get married, have a bunch of children for god and obey your husband.

Having religious extremist parents is being pulled out of school so they can “instill the proper values and beliefs”. Having religious extremist parents is being gaslit CONSTANTLY. Brain washed CONSTANTLY. Not being allowed your own views.

Having religious extremist parents is being told to not be “vain” so you spend every minute telling yourself not to feel pretty, not to feel confident, not to feel proud of yourself for your accomplishments. Having religious parents is using the bible verse “obey your elders” against your younger sister to play what you wanted to play, and realizing how much you hurt her all those years because of some stupid bible verse taken out of context (just to clarify, our relationship is the strongest out of my family).

Having religious extremist parents is being lectured for hours that “you aren’t helping your mother out around the house enough” while neglecting our education.

Having religious extremist parents is spending hours in a church service where the preacher tells you how you can’t be like the rest of the world, that the rest of the world is wrong, that other theologies are wrong, and woe is the church for having so many young people leave christianity, and don’t ever be like them.

Having religious extremist parents is realizing years later that you gave money EVERY GODD*MN WEEK to some grown man that could’ve gotten a real job to pay his bills, because if you weren’t tithing, you weren’t “christian enough”.

Having religious extremist parents is having a father who thinks the world is awful, and a mother who is so disillusioned that she can only see the rosy world in her head.

Having religious extremist parents is watching your family fall apart when you grow up. Having religious extremist parents is watching the abuse between your parents, but knowing they’ll never divorce because “it’s not god’s will”, and “divorce is wrong”.

Having religious extremist parents is knowing that there are some things, some beliefs that they will never accept you for. Having religious extremist parents is finding yourself much later in life that you should’ve.

It’s growing up and realizing the isolation, the trauma, the depression, and the brokenness in your own family and wondering why you never realized it before.”

How about you?

Were you raised in an overly religious household? Maybe even bordering on extremism?

If so, please tell us about it in the comments.

The post People Who Grew up With Very Religious Parents Talk About Their Experiences appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Open up About What Ruined Religion for Them

I’ve met people over the years who’ve told me long stories about how they were raised in very strict religious families and they eventually became so turned off by the rules and what they saw as hypocrisies that they eventually abandoned the whole thing.

Swore it off forever.

And I guess that makes a lot of sense if a certain kind of religion is forced on you from a young age and you eventually get tired of it.

Here’s what AskReddit users had to say about what ruined religion for them.

1. There’s a lot of that.

“That people would try to force their religion onto me and make me feel like I was a bad person if I didn’t have the same beliefs as them…”

2. That’ll do it!

“Was told that dinosaur bones were planted in the ground by Satan to trick us into believing in evolution.”

3. That’s rude.

“Learning that my Mom got alienated and bullied after she tried creating a single mom’s club at our church.”

4. Blind faith.

“My parents told me at a young age that I would go to hell for asking the question “how do we know god is real.”

They could have simply said to read the Bible or something like that.

But instead they told me that I would go to hell, I guess it was the idea behind “blind faith”.”

5. Terrible.

“My infant brother’s death.

I was very little when he died at 3 days old, but it always bothered me being taught that Jesus was the only man that ever lived without sin. I thought “what could this helpless little baby have done that was a sin? He never even cried?”

When I asked my very catholic grandmother about it she told me to watch what I say because I was being blasphemous.”

6. Shattered faith.

“When I came to the realization that trusted authorities did hurt and damage children and gaslight the communities that literally supported the church through personal sacrifice and sincere generosity.

It was the absolute definition of disgrace and I am in agony that it was ever even tolerated.”

7. That’s extreme.

“Being kicked out of Christian school prior to the third grade because my Mom bought the wrong edition of the Bible.”

8. Not good enough.

“The non-answers to all my questions as a kid.

“You just have to have faith” is a dumb way to respond to an inquisitive mind.”

9. This is ridiculous.

“In the third grade my teacher (who was a good person) didn’t believe that cavemen existed because they weren’t mentioned in the bible.

My teacher gave my class a lecture about how cavemen didn’t exist despite there being a lot of evidence. In the fourth grade my teacher was required to teach the theory of evolution to the class by showing a documentary she also gave a lecture on why evolution was fake.

During my time in middle school i realized that it was all crap.”

10. Hypocritical.

“How hypocritical the people in church were.

They would judge you and condemn you for drinking as a teenager yet I would see the pastor and all the deacons out drunk and driving home at friends houses whose parents went to the church.”

11. Wow.

“My family went to a large church when I was young.

One day the pastor was on the news because it turns out he lived a second life at strip clubs and got arrested for kidnapping and pistol whipping a guy who owed him money.

That was the first time I questioned my faith. How could a person act so stone-cold confidently on stage about everything he was preaching and be a total fraud?”

12. Your eyes were opened.

“The first world religions class I took in college.

Realizing other people in other faiths also believed their religion was true gave me the courage to consider maybe Joseph Smith didn’t really see God and Jesus in a forest in 1820 a few years before sticking his head in a hat to look at magic rocks that helped him translate golden plates inscribed with the history of Jesus visiting North America and a Jewish family sailing around in a wooden submarine lit by rocks god touched to make them glow.

Then I thought, “yeah none of that happened”.

And it was all over for me.”

13. The last straw.

“I grew up very religious. My father killed himself when I was young. We were back in church before my sister and I went back to school.

The first day back at church, it seemed that the sermon was tailor made for us, as the preacher went on about suicide being against God’s will and there was no chance to repent, so those who commit suicide had no chance at redemption.

Essentially: “Don’t kill yourself. You end up in Hell. Your family will never see you in the Kingdom.”

That was the last thing a teenage, rebellious, Shagnasty needed to hear. I quickly disassociated myself from the organizational part of the church. I occasionally went to Church camp and other events with big groups of kids my age, but I never went back to church again.

As one final middle-finger to that pastor, I later banged his daughter when we were on a trip to Ichthus Festival.”

14. All about the money.

“I was a freshman in college in 1995 at Clemson.

This was the inaugural season of the Carolina Panthers, and because the stadium in Charlotte hadn’t been completed yet, they played their home games at Death Valley.

It was cool, the town is well equipped for tailgating and stuff. But not on Sunday. Sunday is church day.

I was a Methodist. I well recall the pastor of the Clemson United Methodist Church allowed himself to be quoted in a a newspaper, complaining that the Panthers organization owed all the churches in town for the donations they didn’t get on Sunday because everyone was at the big games.

The donations. Not the souls that weren’t saved. It was the money.”

How about you?

What role does religion play in your life?

Talk to us in the comments and tell us what you think.

Thanks!

The post People Open up About What Ruined Religion for Them appeared first on UberFacts.

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What Totally Ruined Religion for You? Here’s How People Responded.

I grew up in a Catholic family. I had to go to church every weekend and did the whole First Communion and Confirmation things.

As I got into my teenage years, the whole thing just faded away for me…I don’t think anything necessarily “ruined” it for me, but I just realized that it wasn’t going to play a part in my life whatsoever.

But that’s just my story.

AskReddit users went on the record about what ruined religion for them.

1. Awful.

“Someone telling me that it was God’s plan for my unborn daughter to lose her life after her mother was pushed down stairs by an openly racist man.

If that’s what faith in a religion gets me, then I’m out.”

2. Yeah, okay…

“The arrogance in believing “god” works like Santa Claus just started sounding ridiculous to me around the age of 16. “I got a new job – THANK GOD”

“I almost got into a car accident – must have been god looking out for me.”

But this deity ignores genocide, starvation, and cancer in children but waves a wand to give you a .25 hourly raise. And this is allllll part of the plan too.

Yeah okay….”

3. Ruined itself.

“Religion ruined religion.

So many rules.

Like why can’t I just be a nice person and not do harm? Why do I have to go to a building every Sunday and listen someone drone on while surrounded by a bunch of fakes?

Why do we shun those that make mistakes? Or reject those that don’t believe exactly what we do? Why can’t we embrace the differences and just say “it’s ok we don’t believe the same, we both do good and don’t hurt others – team religion!”

But nooooo. We kill in the name of God, because of differences, enforce rules that are almost impossible to keep in modern society and then act like we are following those rules even when we aren’t.

It’s all just gross.”

4. Don’t believe anymore.

“I was fully committed Southern Baptist and filled in at times teaching my adult Sunday class.

I then read The End of Faith and The God Delusion. Then I had a realization that all of medicine and biology is based on evolution. I prayed for God to make himself real to me and really wanted to believe. Now I realize every evidence of God I saw in 40 years of church was just confirmation bias and placebo effect.

Can’t tell my family I’m atheist it would kill them. Still go to church to see and make friends.

Edit to follow up: I wouldn’t be ostracized. But I would cause them unnecessary pain since they would think I’m going to hell don’t feel like putting them through that. I’m not wanting to be on everyone’s prayer list.
Funny thing is I like the typical USA Christian way of life.

In my experience it works. In my extended family everyone is fairly happy and out of 10 marriages we have no divorces and my kids 20+ cousins are all doing great. I don’t think casual s*x, drugs, or excessive drinking is a good way to live.

I’m not sad, just not able to believe anymore.”

5. Hypocrisy.

“The hypocrisy, the hate, the shame that’s directed towards humanity.

My last experience was with a fairly middle-road church- I went to the high a school aged youth group service with some classmates. The services started with singing worship (cringe just saying that), and everyone around me was sobbing with their hands held in the air, swaying, singing to a song about how we are so unworthy of love.

And I was like… holy sh*t, what is WRONG with all of you?! I barely survived the rest of the evening.

Never went back.”

6. Time to question this.

“Learning about original sin in church school when I was 9.

I couldn’t get over the unfairness of it, and that started me questioning the whole religion thing.”

7. God’s plan?

“That God’s plan involved the trauma my family endured over the years.

It’s all part of God’s plan?

Well, that plan sucks, so I’m out!”

8. The depths of HELL.

“The idea of Hell.

I was brought up mainly in Asia. Most my friends and their parents were irreligious, some would go temple but no one took it seriously, it was more about respect for your elders. Learning that all the good people in my life who had heard the “gospel” but didn’t follow it were destined for an ENTIRETY of suffering was abhorrent to me.

It is inherently evil to think that most the world just because they do not believe what you believe is destined to an INFINITE amount of harm.

The logic of it never felt right to me. I had a mother who was sent to convent school in Ireland so Catholicism was rammed down my neck with an iron rod.

At school when we had to write our own accounts what happened to Jesus in Religious Education about when Jesus was resurrected, at the age of 12 I already knew that wasn’t possible so I wrote a story about a big con Jesus had with the women who opened his tomb. My school teacher called my mother and told her.

When I got home she screamed like a banshee at me for hours saying I was ungrateful for what Jesus had sacrificed for us but I was thinking well he was God, he knew everything and is all powerful so actually his sacrifice is meaningless.

One life as a human doesn’t make you great, we have billions of humans life. All human life has more meaning than an infinitely powerful eternal being pretending to be a human for one life. It’s like an instagram influencer showing up for good pics at a BLM march.”

9. Hmmmm…

“That my church kicked out someone gay.

That my church was so racist that they campaigned to get a black African priest removed, and when Jesus get removed, half the church left in protest.”

10. That’s bad.

“When I was 5 years years old, after we walked out of a prayer, a beggar approached my mom asking for $5 for food.

As my mom reached into her purse and about to hand him the money, she asked the man if he was muslim, he said yes.

She asked him if he was Sunni or Shia, he answered wrong and she put away the money.”

11. Non-believer.

“Raised Catholic.

The idea that one religion is right and all others are wrong, the idea that so many people suffer on a daily basis but “God loves us”, the idea that we must love each other but religion teaches you to hate those who aren’t like you.

And above all else, the idea that some invisible, all powerful being exist somewhere in the sky. I stopped believing when I was 13.”

12. A lot to deal with.

“Overbearing people while I was exploring.

I have a Jehovah’s Witness grandma, Wiccan mom, atheist dad, and a solid set of gay Christian friends. Everyone stuck their noses in and I just said “f*ck it, there’s something out there and as long as it doesn’t kill me, I’m chill.”

Just… kinda respect the world and go with the flow.”

13. Saw it in a new light.

“I think it was probably reading the Epic of Gilgamesh in a high school literature class.

It showed me the Bible was qualitatively no different from other ancient writings.

The alleged sacredness was not in the text itself.”

14. See you in Hell.

“Being told that every good non-christian person will go to hell.

I decided then and there that I’ll happily burn next to Gandhi and buddhist monks.”

15. Scientology.

“Scientology ruined my religion for me.

I’m an actor, and they hired me to do some instructional/education video for them and paid decent. I know they’re kinda kooky, but I thought “Hey, I’ve worked for crazier people in this industry” so I met with them on their super secret ‘Gold Base’ in Southern California.

I shot there for several days, and got to know the staff/volunteers who have dedicated their entire life to serving Scientology. I learned a lot about their religion, as I’ve been genuinely curious about all faiths.

I remember driving home after my final day on set, and thinking to myself “How can such normal, nice people believe in something so obviously false? I mean, their founder, who has been historically documented as a scoundrel and a crook, literally wrote a book, got a huge influence of people, and then convinced them that it was the one true way to live!”

Being a fully practicing Mormon at the time, you can imagine my shock when I immediately realized that’s the exact same thing people say about my religion.

EDIT: Some people are asking, so I’ll give an update. This happened about a year ago, and I haven’t been practicing since then.

I still firmly believe the heart of the Mormon church is to make someone better through weekly introspection and selfless service to others. 90% of the people are honestly working to become their best self on a weekly basis by focusing on its teachings. However, as for the one true faith?

There’s too much dissonance, particularly when it comes to LGBT+ policies, for me to believe that’s true.”

How do you feel about this?

Does religion play a role in your life?

Or maybe it used to but not anymore?

Talk to us in the comments and tell us what you think.

The post What Totally Ruined Religion for You? Here’s How People Responded. appeared first on UberFacts.

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People Who Broke Free From Cults Share Their Stories

I can’t even begin to imagine what people who get involved in cults or were even raised in cults have gone through.

And the ones who have managed to escape definitely have some very interesting stories to tell. So let’s take a peek into a world that most of us will never experience in our entire lives.

Take a look at these disturbing stories from AskReddit users who escaped cults.

1. Doomsday.

“I was in a doomsday cult for 23 years from my age 13 to 36 (1995-2018). Based on its “knowledge” , this world should have “transformed” by now, into the so called “heaven”, and only a bunch of the cult followers should have remained in harmony.

I totally believed everything I heard without questioning ( probably because I was young and naive) and followed their ” Rules and regulations ” to the dot. Like celibacy, food habits, keeping a distance from everyone outside the cult ( even close family members) .. etc.

Finally, when some obvious questions started arising in my mind I felt like fool, and totally lost and betrayed. It took a lot to break free and am still in the process.”

2. Only notice when you’re out.

“I think the funniest thing about living in a cult isn’t what you notice living in it. It’s what you notice once you’re out.

There were some pretty strange things that when you’re long removed from it all you’re like, “Holy sh*t that IS messed up.” When you’re in it it just seems normal. That’s the weirdest part. When you ask what it was like, my first response is to go, “Like any other childhood really…”

And then I think about it and go…hmmmm okay, not quite. It’s funny how accepting minds can be when it’s all you know.”

3. Sucked in.

“I broke away from a cult. I had gotten sucked in during college.

They prey on college kids who are away from home, searching for an identity and desperate for a sense of belonging. At first it was fun. Nonstop activities. People who genuinely wanted me around. Help. Support. It felt good. But it quickly took over. Then the pressure started. Subtle at first.

Give up all other people and activities because they weren’t good for me. Spend all my time and energy with the church. They assigned someone to watch me. To report to. To confess to. At the same time I befriended the cult leader’s wife and spent a lot of time with her. I felt privileged. But I started to see things.

I went to catholic school 13 years and I think that was the best inoculation! Then the whole women’s role thing really got me steamed. I started arguing with the cult leader’s wife about women being equal and I suspect something I said got to her.

Because the cult leader hauled me in to a meeting and talked to me for an hour and by the end he could see I wasn’t going to fall in line and I could finally see him for what he was – a fraud. So he kicked me out. I was banned hard! He was afraid I would infect others.

My good friend had to flee in the dead of night and hide in another state. They hunted him. But me- they never even spoke to me again!”

4. Hard to process.

“It was difficult. 25 years of not knowing how to think for yourself and suddenly having to, is hard to process. Everything was very routine and once I got out of that routine, I didn’t know what to do.

Forced myself to meet new people and figure out what “truth” is. Very happy with who I am now after three years but still learning more about being independent and being open to new ideas and beliefs.

Plus, holidays are AMAZING! I love Halloween and Christmas.”

5. A very hard thing.

“Leaving was one of the hardest things I have done in my life. It took me years to realize the pain I caused my family was actually not my fault.

Also, I felt so alien in the world. I missed the general background that people have, because the world I had lived in was so different. I was trying to fit in, without knowing how to set boundaries to protect myself.”

6. A different perspective.

“I left AA in 2011, after ten years of lies, coercive deception, and being intimidated by extreme fear.

Although many may laugh at AA being considered a cult, It has all ten of the ‘Sam & Tanner’ indicators, that would describe it as such. As Scientology hides behind it being a religion, AA hides behind its structure of anonymity (at all levels).

I was pursued and threatened if I didn’t go back, and other members visited my family, at home, and at their places of work, to tell them I was going to drink, and soon die if I didn’t resume meetings. As AA promotes the image of an ‘altruistic fellowship’ the Police are very wary of getting involved.

It took me over six years to de-program, and even today, I have troubling thoughts from the incidents I witnessed while a member.”

7. Relearning the basics.

“Having to re-learn basic words, definitions, and thought processes.

Oh, Practical Prayer doesn’t take up hours of your time? Circular logic is bullsh*t? Idle hands are NOT the Devil’s playground?

Being a passive-minded, obsessively-clean, hardworking, frugal SHEEP that gives your blood, sweat, tears, time, and MONEY all to the Church DOESN’T make you a contributing member of society?”

8. Mennonite.

“Ex-Mennonite here, from a rather extreme branch of it.

I hate how people idolize Amish and Mennonites and have no idea how f*cked up it all is. The physical, s*xual, and spiritual abuse that is carried out behind walls. The sickening way they treat animals. How they force victims to forgive, and cover up the crimes of their own.

People were so surprised and admiring when those Amish whose school had been shot up “forgave” the sicko who did it. Missing from the commentary was that we are told from when we are very young that the only way to enter heaven is to forgive everyone everything.

And to be doormats for all the violent men in our lives. Whether in or outside the community.”

9. In a bubble.

“Being so completely ignorant of how the world really works was the worst for me.

I lived in a bubble just thinking everything outside the religion didn’t matter, because soon everything will be destroyed and almost everyone would be dead because they were not Jehova’s Witnesses. I had to educate myself when I finally woke up. I read more than 20 books in one year.

Trying to comprehend how the outside world really works. But my life has been full of failures because is not the same in theory than in practice. Maybe one day I’ll get the hang of it and start succeeding.”

10. Eye-opening.

“It was pretty bad. I was 7 when we left, and my childhood was filled with terror, daily beatings, hunger and exhaustion.

When we re-entered the real world, I was like a fish out of water. Straight from a cult into the projects, that was an eye opener.”

11. Was in multiple ones.

“I was in multiple different cults growing up. Evangelical brand, doomsday cults, all extorting money from their members.

One kept me socially isolated for years, exorcised me, designated me to be a surrogate mother to carry the children of everyone in the church who was infertile, despite the fact that pregnancy would kill me, said I was unfit to be married because I’d been r*ped as a child but I still had to give birth as that’s what God demands of women to free them of their sin.

The town I lived in was controlled by the main cult I was in- I couldn’t escape it. Everyone everywhere knew that I wasn’t a good enough believer. They were always feeding information back to my parents and the cult leaders to use against me. Everyone knew everything about me at all times.

In another, I was psychologically tortured, forced to consume rotten food and if I threw up I had to eat the vomit, forced to commit racist acts, and allow the leaders of the cult to s*xually harass me, a child. In the last one, I thought, finally this one is normal, until they tried to kill me.

I’ve been “out” for a year and moved hours away, but one of them managed to find me again. Periodically, they’ll send people I used to know to my town who are just “happening to run into me” when they’re “on outreach”, just so they know I know they’ve still got an iron grip on me.

My older brother used to be being groomed to be a leader in one of them and responsible for facilitating a lot of the abuse because he didn’t have a choice, and me and him are struggling to reconcile and be civil due to this fact.

The trauma is intense and I can barely leave my house a lot of the time, and my memories of my entire life are fragmented because I can’t handle them. The worst part is trying to function.”

12. Had to get away.

“I accepted a job as a traveling salesman once upon a time when I was desperate for income. Had no idea that it was a front for a cult.

We sold waterbeds. But anytime someone would tried to leave the company, management would gaslight you, become mentally abusive and manipulative, and try to use your personal life against you. All the other coworkers were honestly like creepy as f*ck. They all behaved like subservient loyal robots literally.

The cult itself, was centered around the owner. They had subtle wording in their company core values and policies that basically referenced that they were a God, if not the God of humanity. It was weird as f*ck. I was subjected to some really sh*tty situations, and trying to tell my family and friends about it they wouldn’t believe me.

Thought I was a lunatic, it was just a sh*tty job etc. But no, there were death threats, other forms of threats, all sorts of just mind-blowing crap from management, including attempted blackmailing, framing etc. Company meetings consisted of people getting hazed, but they called it “trust building exercises”.

There was also some kind of weird double love triangle going on between some of the coworkers and management. Im pretty sure the coworkers all f*cked each other too. Like you know the movie, whats it called…West World or something, where all the cyborg robot humans were obviously preprogrammed to act and behave a certain way without fault? Thats exactly how my coworkers were.

In the end I realized I had to move across country without warning to get away from them.”

13. Creepy stuff.

“Long long ago when I was a preteen I had to stay with some relatives for a while. These relatives were in a ‘church’ that was run by an openly admitted, formerly imprisoned con man.

I was told I had to go to this ‘church’ too, 3 times a week, or be thrown out of the house with nowhere else to go. Things started off more or less normal-ish and only gradually did it become a fanatical cult.

For the time I was there, I was as sucked in as everyone else and couldn’t see that things were messed up. One Wednesday evening I had a bad tummy flu and was left with the neighbors while everyone else went to the church. Friday night rolls around and I’m still too sick and weak to go.

Sunday morning comes and I’m perfectly healthy, but no longer want to go. Once again I was left at the house, but with instructions to be gone before they returned. I left and have never regretted it.

What made this ‘church’ a cult:

I know of at least one young woman in the congregation that had quietly asked around for help because the ‘leader’ was hitting on her and not taking no for an answer. She soon disappeared and was never heard from or mentioned again. I have no idea if something happened to her, or she just ran but either way it was bad.

At any given time in the last year I was there, at least 3 of the most attractive mid-teen girls lived with the ‘leader’, an unmarried man, with no supervision, and their parents seemed to think this was wonderful.

The ‘leader’ would frequently say one thing and then contradict himself in the next sentence, and no one ever noticed or commented on it.

The ‘leader’ put a great deal of effort into separating his ‘flock’ from friends, family and the community at large. All holidays became ‘satanic’ and the congregation was forbidden to practice anything considered normal for holidays.

Years later when I was grown and married, a friend from childhood contacted me to tell me the cult was being investigated by, I don’t remember now which alphabet agency. I immediately called the number for that agency that was in the phone book, and told them everything I knew. I never heard anything after that, and have no idea what happened.”

How about you?

Have you ever had any experiences with a cult or any kind of extreme religious organization?

If so, please share your stories with us in the comments.

The post People Who Broke Free From Cults Share Their Stories appeared first on UberFacts.

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Older People Talk About Which Year Felt Worse Than 2020 and They Explain Why

I’ve read quite a bit about the year 1968 and I’ve always said to myself, “wow, that must have been so exciting and interesting to live through such a tumultuous year.”

Now that we’re living through an awful year, my mind has definitely been changed. This is not fun, it’s not exciting, and it’s honestly pretty terrifying. But I guess that we should all appreciate that we’re living through some very interesting times that will be studied and written about forever.

What are some other years that felt worse than 2020?

Let’s get some history lessons from folks on AskReddit.

1. Crash in Finland.

“My parents still think the economic crash of the 1990s that happened in Finland was worse, and in Finland it killed more people in the form of suicides than Corona has thus far.

I was just born around that time. And lots of people just lost everything. Companies folded left and right. Loan intrests were crushing people.

Then right after that we got dot com bubble.”

2. The burst bubble.

“Personally speaking:

2002 the dot-com bubble burst and I lost a cushy job, that was pretty bad.
2008 great recession happened, again was laid off, that was pretty bad too.

2019 was awful. I found out my recently deceased father had an entire other family. I guess technically, we were his other family.

Met the ones he abandoned (my new older half siblings) last summer and it was incredibly awkward and for some reason left me hollow and extremely full of guilt.”

3. A personal story.

“I’m 42. I’ve had years that were personally pretty bad, but this is super weird times.

Like, late 1997, the day before my 20th birthday, my mom was diagnosed with cancer and the first 6 months of 1998 were especially very, very stressful and scary, but at least I could go out with friends, I threw myself in to school, I worked, I tried to be useful or out of the way at home. I didn’t have to think about it 24/7.

I deactivated my FB, Insta, and Twitter October 1 and I’m planning to keep them like that at least through the election, maybe longer. Can’t change what’s going on, but I can’t have all of this crap living rent-free in my head all the time.”

4. JFK.

“1963 because President Kennedy was shot.

My teacher cried and my father left home.”

5. Interesting perspective.

“The last quarter of 2001 was more intensely miserable.

2020 misery is more spread out and not quite as terrifying.”

6. Serbia.

“Bombing of Serbia in 1999.

NATO was only supposed to bomb military objects, but they bombed hospitals, markets, random populated areas. I was in the hospital with my dad when the sirens came on the whole hospital went to the basement, lucky the hospital wasn’t hit, after the danger my dad drove us back he told me not to look out the window, being a kid I did look only to see innocent people dead along the whole street as the flea market was hit on a weekend…

I am 25 y/o now I still have nightmares about it occasionally. Also NATO used prohibited weapons with uranium which also caused a lot of people to get cancer from the radiation years after…”

7. History in the making.

“The year 1970.

People dying or being maimed for life (both mentally and physically) in a stupid, nonsensical war. Richard Nixon was President. The government refusing to listen to hundreds of thousands of people protesting the war, and people of all sorts not just college kids and hippies.

I participated in a HUGE protest in DC and walked down Pennsylvania Avenue with a lot of other people, holding the hands of my two kids. “We are speaking to our government. Never forget.””

8. It was bad.

“2008 was a really bad year.

Big financial crash, lots of people lost a lot of money, especially from their savings and retirements. Lots of layoffs, including me, and really high unemployment and few jobs to move to.”

9. The Eighties.

“1983 was probably the year we came closest to global nuclear war. Even worse than the Cuban Missile Crisis.

There was a large confluence of circumstances and events (some related, some not) that could have spelled doom.”

10. Bad years.

“1994-95.

I spent a good bit of time homeless or living in a tent. I was in the US illegally and couldn’t get any form of assistance without being deported, and I was too small for most places to even consider employing me under the table.

Also, honorable mentions to 2016-17 for my divorce year and pretty much the entire period of 1992-1997 for me. 2020 doesn’t crack my top ten worst years, aside from the collapse of western civilization it really hasn’t been too bad on me.”

11. Way back when.

“It’s has to be 1947 when India got independence from britishers and then divided into Pakistan(Islamic country), India (republic nation).

People were forced to leave according to their religion. They were burnt alive and r*ped. Around 2 million people died, 14 million misplaced.

And my father told me that my grandfather who used to work as a ticket checker in railway had seen trains full of dead bodies.”

12. This is maybe as bad…

“Late 1960s and early 70s, we had the Vietnam war body count nightly on the news, for years. Everyone was worried about being drafted. I was too young.

There was plenty of angst to go around then. But I feel this year has probably been as bad or worse.”

13. Chaotic times.

“1968-1969.

Started with the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. It was a military disaster for the North Vietnamese, but a big surprise to the American public – they had been told the war was effectively won. And from there it just got worse.

Student riots. City riots. MLK was assassinated in early April and the ghettos exploded. Then in early June, I was on a South Vietnamese hilltop firebase. One of our less English-proficient officers came up to the American advisers in the afternoon. “You know Kennedy, ya? They shoot him!” The three of us looked at him. I said, “Yeah Đại Úy (Captain), back in 1963. So?”

“NO!” he said, “They shoot him now!” Then he got frustrated with us and stomped off. Weird. What’s up with the Đại Úy? We couldn’t get American radio (AFVN) in the daytime, but later that night we found out what he was talking about. Another Kennedy? WTF is going on back home?

I got back on leave in December. America was nuts. I couldn’t walk through the airport without starting a fight. I wasn’t fighting. Someone would want to yell at me, and someone else would start yelling at him, and eventually they’d forget I was there – because I wasn’t. My instructions were to keep walking. The war had come home. Racial justice had graduated to racial war.

It was almost a relief to get back to Vietnam. Seemed saner.

Bad year for the USA. 1969 was only better because some of the things people were expecting to happen, didn’t. But it wasn’t much better.”

Now we want to hear from even more older folks.

In the comments, please tell us what years you think were worse than 2020.

We’d love to hear from you!

The post Older People Talk About Which Year Felt Worse Than 2020 and They Explain Why appeared first on UberFacts.